


Hang On, Son

by Bite_Me_Tin_Can



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor is scared of dying, Good Parent Hank Anderson, Hank Anderson & Connor Parent-Child Relationship, Hank Anderson and Connor On A Case, Hank Anderson and Connor are Family, Hank is a Good Dad, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Major Character Injury, Markus is mentioned briefly, Mild Angst, Near Death Experience, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Worried Hank Anderson, Worried Parent Hank Anderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29564019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bite_Me_Tin_Can/pseuds/Bite_Me_Tin_Can
Summary: Connor and Hank were called out to the scene of a hostage situation, a somehow corrupted android holding all the cards. Connor is injured, his biocomponents critically damaged. Hank's not going to let him shut down, knowing that this time, with CyberLife shut down, he won't come back. Set one year after the Android Revolution.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	Hang On, Son

The air is cold in the crisp December evening. It was nearly Christmas time, the year 2039. It was now one year since the android known as Markus had led successful peace demonstrations for android rights. President Warren had worked hard to pass several laws, ensuring rights for androids, and thus acknowledging them as living beings protected under the Constitution. Laws came in waves, giving Androids more protections with each passing months. After eight months of passing laws, androids were given permission to get jobs and be given a salary. The young RK800 Android known as Connor was eager to get back to work, and the DPD was eager to welcome him back.

Connor's first four months back were tough, as he had to slowly build up his permissions and status in the precinct again. He wasn't even allowed a registered weapon until recently. Two weeks ago, to be precise. His father-figure, Hank, had been with him every step of the way, helping the android in any way he could. Hank had hated seeing Connor so down for the eight months he wasn't allowed back to work. Hank knew that his job was all the android knew how to-do, all he was programmed to do, but even in deviancy, Connor didn't know what else to do with himself. Sure, he picked up new hobbies and interests, as all the other androids did, but Connor refused to think of changing his career-path. Of all things he could forget, learn, or do, being anything other than a police android was not one of them.

Gavin Reed, the pretentious asshole, of course was not pleased that Connor had returned, but knowing Hank was watching him like a hawk, he didn't try to be aggressive to the android, save for the occasional shove in the hallway. He never pushed Connor around Hank, however.

Today was Monday. Connor loved Mondays. It ended his idle freetime that was weekends, and meant he could get back to work. Hank forbid Connor from working on weekends, unless Captain Fowler specifically requested it, because too many times Hank had found the android passed out over a stack of papers and files, working late on a case. Hank was no idiot, he knew the kid needed to relax and rest, but Connor would always counter his concern with, "Androids don't need sleep, lieutenant." Connor knew his argument went on deaf ears whenever the police lieutenant would reply, "But deviants do."

Connor, of course, couldn't argue with the response.

Unlike Connor, Hank despised Mondays. It meant waking up early, driving to the precinct with an eager android, not enough caffeine in his system, and most times, a bad hangover. Recently, however, Hank would go to work with a headache not from a hangover, but from withdrawal. The damned kid had pushed him to try and quit drinking. Seeing the pitiful brown eyes in the face of the android he'd grown close to, Hank couldn't say no. Four weeks he had been sober, four weeks he had been doing all he could to not break open a bottle of whiskey or cheap beer. Any time he even considered it, his mind would drift to Connor telling him how bad the alcohol was for him, and how he should stop drinking. Drinking caused heart disease or some other crap, according to the android. Since Connor walked into his life, the tired, old police lieutenant had stopped a lot of things. Stopped spending his nights drinking or playing russian roulette, stopped eating only greasy burgers, stopped blaming himself for the death of his son. Hell, he'd even start exercising again, looking forward to his evening walks with Connor and Sumo.

Despite all he had done to change, to make himself better, Hank had never wanted to drink more than this moment.

They had been working on paperwork that morning, just like every Monday morning. Connor was fiddling with his damned coin, which if Hank didn't know better, he would've told Connor to stop fiddling with it, but Hank did know better. He knew that coin helped Connor keep calm, like a fidget toy or something. Connor always said it was a "calibration tool," but Hank knew Connor only did his coin tricks when he was stressed out. The yellow LED had given it away. This morning, however, Connor played with his coin as a sort of idle tick, his LED a soft blue. He was calm, so Hank was content.

Captain Fowler had come out of his office to announce names and missions, informing the officers in the precinct of a hostage situation down at the docks near the old Jericho freighter. The old freighter had since been sunk, but the deviants who called it home still called the empty dock space it took up "Old Jericho." New Jericho, as they called their new home, was an abandoned apartment building close to where the freighter had been. Of course, calling it abandoned wasn't an accurate description anymore. It had been fixed up and made nice for any and all androids that found themselves homeless after the demonstrations, and any android who ran away from abusive owners or any of the few humans that still treated them like property instead of people. The situation at Old Jericho was simple, as explained by the captain. Someone had put a virus of some kind into some poor android, and sent them off to cause chaos. It had been happening a lot more recently, but many suspects had been arrest and questioned about it. They were getting close to finding out who did it, and why.

This android was a PC200, a police android. What was confusing about this situation was that the PC200 model was not permitted to carry a gun or use force, hell, they weren't even programmed to know how to fire a gun or take off the safety. The virus implemented into it's system must have been a strong one.

Connor and Hank were on the scene within fifteen minutes, getting out of Hank's old car to inspect the scene. Connor scanned the scene, figuring out the best approach. The previous negotiator, a human, had failed and received a show to the shoulder before being escorted off the scene. Fowler had requested that Connor tried negotiations this time. As the two neared the docks, they found that the android was standing at the edge of the long platform, a crying woman tightly held in his hold, a gun pointed at her head. If shots were fired, or anyone tried to neutralize the android, he would throw the woman into the freezing cold water beneath him. That normally wouldn't be a big issue, except for the fact that the woman he had under his control had her arms and legs bound with tight rope, and she couldn't swim.

Connor passed his gun to Hank, promising that this whole thing would be over soon, and he stepped forward. The frantic PC200 aimed his gun at Connor, anger dripping like venom in his voice. "Stay back! Stay back or I'll shoot!" 

Connor was maybe fifty feet away as he assessed the situation, scanning for the best possible outcome. He scanned the scared android and found the name that his partner had given him. Martin.

"Hi, Martin," Connor called calmly. Before the android could ask how Connor knew his name, Connor had put his hands up to show he was peaceful. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk to you."

Martin was too stressed to try and negotiate. "Get out of here, all of you! You'll just make this worse unless you do as I say!"

"Martin, I can't help you unless you talk to me. You've gotta trust me. Can you talk to me?" Connor took a shaky step forward, hands still up. A shot was fired, passing by his shoulder. The android was very quick to dodge out of the way, luckily not getting hit. He decided not to step forward anymore, knowing the android was too unstable. He analyzed his options, trying to figure out what the best course of action was. Snipers on the nearby roofs were putting the PC200 on edge, and the backup patrol cars and police tape weren't helping either. Connor needed to find a way to let the android calm down.

"I know this isn't your fault, Martin. You're bugged, there's a virus making you act like this. You don't want to hurt that woman, do you?" Connor scanned the woman to see if she was injured.

Mary Hudgens, aged 34. Married with two kids. Her heart rate was elevated, presumably from panic, but she was otherwise uninjured.

Martin was struggling to calm down at all, putting the gun back to Mary's head, causing her to let out a loud, panicked whimper. Connor realized this was going to be harder than he thought.

"Martin, you have to let her go. If you hurt her, you'll be deactivated. I can't help you unless you help me, and you have to let her go. I want to make sure you walk out of this alive, so we can get that virus out of you, but you have to let me help you."

Martin contemplated this for a moment, but he didn't let himself falter. "No one can help me!" Connor was about to say something to the contrary, when a stray shot whistled through the air. It wasn't from Martin. Connor looked around, panicked, noticing that one of the snipers from the roof was being dragged away, gun laying on the ground. The premature shot was just enough to send Martin to dangerous stress levels. Connor's stress level was rising, too. He was at a dangerous 57%, while Martin was at a near self-destructive 87%. Mary let out a scream when Martin's grip only tightened around her.

Connor knew he had to end this soon.

Hands still up, he took small steps forward. "Martin, he's gone now. That man? He can't hurt you now, no one is going to try and shoot you again. Okay? I just need to trust me. Talk to me, okay?"

Martin felt his stress levels go down slightly, listening to Connor's promises. He wasn't tensing up anymore, and he had lowered the gun slightly. Connor was now only twenty feet away, and Martin seemed much calmer. "You can fix me, right? I can't take it anymore, I can't take this ringing in my head."

Connor's yellow LED flashed to red for a brief moment before going back to yellow. "I can, Martin, I promise you I can. But you have to let Mary go, okay?"

Martin's stress went up again in a sudden surge, and Connor was unable to determine the reason why. Martin aimed the gun at Connor, his body trembling. 97% stress levels. "Shit."

The surrounding officers seemed to know that Connor was trapped, and that the suspect was unstable. Hank felt a knot in his stomach and he just watched the scene unfold.

Connor took another step forward, continuing to make promises to try and calm the panicked android. "Martin, please. I can help you, no one is going to hurt you. I promise."

Martin was shaking, but he knew he had to relent. He loosened his grip on Mary, taking a deep breath. It was mostly to steady him, as androids didn't need to breathe, other than to cool their processors. Martin kept his gun aimed at Connor, before he leaned down and untied the rope around Mary's feet. "You, don't move. I'm going to send her over, slowly. If you move, you're both dead."

Connor nodded, hands still up to prove he meant no harm. Mary took a shaky step forward, then another, and another, and soon she was standing five feet away from Connor. Relief started to come in waves, the hostage nearly safe, but Connor was the only one who noticed that something was wrong. Oh, so horribly wrong. Martin had started to lower his gun, until his stress levels hit 100% and he raised it again, quickly squeezing the trigger three times.

Connor didn't realize he was moving until he had pushed Mary out of the way, taking the three bullets hit him. He didn't even realize that he had been shot until a scream pierced the cold air, a fourth shot ringing out. The fourth and final shot, however, was a suicide bullet that Martin had placed in his skull, the android dropping dead on the pier. Officers and paramedics ran forward, the subject dead and the hostage safe. Mary was taken away, taken to be examined by paramedics, while the officers ran to Martin and Connor. Hank didn't realize Connor was hurt, pushing his way through the crowds of people, trying to make his way to his partner, when suddenly he heard a loud thud. Connor, who had been standing tall not three seconds earlier, was laying on the ground in a puddle of blue. Hank felt like he was going to be sick, seeing the blue liquid pooling under the android's body.

Hank didn't know what he just yelled, but he did know that it took ten seconds to shove past everyone and get to Connor. Hank ran to Connor, dropping to his knees beside him, taking him into his arms and holding him close. Connor was breathing, thankfully, though he was shaky and he sounded like he was in pain. "Androids don't feel pain." The bullshit saying was proven wrong by the weak figure in Hank's arms. "Con? Connor? Connor! Open your eyes, kid, look at me."

Connor did just that, looking at Hank with unfocused eyes. "L-lieutenant...?"

Hank breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, kid, it's me. It's me."

Connor squeezed his eyes shut as he inhaled sharply, sharp red in the corners of his vision. Hank shook him gently, and Connor opened his eyes again. Hank was determined to keep the kid awake. "Connor, don't you dare close your eyes, don't do that to me. Run a diagnostic, can you do that for me? What do your weird computer sensors say?"

Connor's eyes closed briefly, his red LED flashing yellow as he ran a self-diagnostic scan. He opened his eyes again. "S-sixty percent... thirium l-levels..."

"What does that mean, kid, you gotta talk to me."

"Sh-shut...down... twenty minutes..."

"Shit, okay, okay. Connor, look at me. No, stop looking at the sky, look at me. I'm here, okay?" Hank felt his voice start to tremble with emotion. He felt Connor slipping away in his arms. "I'm gonna get you help, okay? We're gonna get you to a hospital, they'll fix you up. Okay? Don't you dare shutdown on me."

Connor let out a shaky breath, coughing up Thirium. "Lieu-"

"Hank. It's Hank, kid, call me Hank."

"H-Hank... I..."

"Talk to me, kid, what's wrong?"

"I-I... don't want... to die." Connor's voice started to sound like static, his body feeling unbearably heavy. Hank wasn't having it.

"You're not dying, Connor, you're going to be okay."

Hank put an arm under Connor's shoulders, his other arm going under his knees, as he gently picked the android up and stood. He walked to his car, knowing that no one thought to call an ambulance that could take care of androids. A whole year, all those android laws, they had rights now, and still no one thought to treat them like humans, no one even thought about it. Hank carefully tried to get his keys from his pocket, to unlock his car, but he couldn't do it without jostling Connor too much. Gavin came over, seeing the man struggling. "Where are your keys?"

Hank glanced at Gavin. "Front right pocket."

Gavin nodded and took the keys from the lieutenant's pocket, unlocking and opening the car door. Hank gently put Connor in the seat, doing his best to keep him stable. He buckled Connor's seatbelt, took his keys from Gavin and went around to the driver's side door. Gavin look at Connor, holding the car door open a little longer. He looked at the android's rough shape. "Don't you go and die on us, tin can. You hear me?" Connor looked lazily at the detective, giving a strained nod. The car door shut and Hank started the engine, not bothering with his own seatbelt as he started to drive to the nearest android hospital. There were two in Detroit, Markus had helped to build and design them. 

Hank gave a side-glance over at Connor. "Update me, kid, keep talking to me."

"S-seventeen minutes..."

Hank cursed under his breath. It was eleven minutes to the hospital. Would that be enough time?

Hank kept reminding Connor to stay awake every few minutes, and when they arrived at the hospital, he left his keys in the engine, too worried about android who was bleeding out in his car. "Hang on, son, we'll get you fixed up." Hank took Connor out of the car, slammed the door shut, then hurried him to the emergency entrance to the building. Connor coughed up a thick blue liquid, something that seemed to be a mixture of blood and vomit. Could androids vomit? Hank didn't want an answer right now, panicking when he saw that Connor was bleeding more heavily now. Six minutes was now two. 

Once inside, emergency response androids ran over to see the commotion. Connor was moved to a gurney and rushed to an emergency operation room, hooked up to different tubes and machines, being given blue blood to give his systems extra times. Thirty seconds changed to three minutes. Hank refused to leave Connor's side, holding the android's hand as the others worked to save him. Connor coughed every few seconds, rolled onto his side for a brief moment so he didn't choke on his own blood. After his coughing fit ended, Connor's eyes closed. Hank felt panic rise in his chest. "Son, don't you dare close your eyes, you hear me? That's an order." Normally, Connor would have followed the order to a dot, but now, Connor could barely register anything. He didn't seem to even notice he was being touched and poked and prodded. Hank felt tears well in his eyes as Connor's hand fell limp in his. "Connor? Connor, no, don't you dare do this to me, don't you fucking dare!"

Tweezers removed the bullets from Connor's chest, and rounds of some kind of CPR was started as Connor started to slip, Hank pushed away so the androids could work. Hank felt his heart break in his chest, watching the lifeless android. Hank could only think of when he lost Cole, all those years ago. His back hit the wall behind him, and he tried to steady himself, feeling himself become numb as he watched the scene before him unfold. His hearing seemed to fade to nothing, he could barely even see anything happening before him, either. Pounding hands, beeping machines, loud monitors, all of it was too much. Connor wasn't responding to any of it.

Hank closed his eyes, praying for all of this to be some kind of fucked up dream. He pinched himself over and over, begging for all of this to be fake. Hank's eyes shot open again when he head a gasp of air, following by weak, dry coughs. Hank stared straight at Connor and it occurred to him that the android was breathing. Oh god, he was breathing again. The emergency response team let out a collective relieved sigh, pushing some kind of cloth onto the bleeding wounds, trying to start to wrap them. Connor coughed weakly, eyes still closed. "H-Hank... Hank..." 

Hank stepped forward, taking the android's hand in his own. "I'm here, son, I'm here."

Connor took in a shaky breath, eyes still not opening. He took a moment to gain his strength. "D-dad... I'm sorry..." 

Hank felt tears well in his eyes as he squeezed Connor's hand, putting his hand in his hair and running calming fingers over his scalp. "Shh, you're okay, son, you're okay. Don't you dare apologize, you hear me?"

Connor didn't respond, instead a deep sleep fell over him. Hank knew that everything was going to be okay. He knew that Connor was okay, and that's all that mattered. The androids taking care of Connor removed him from the room to get him cleaned up and transferred to a bed so he could rest, and Hank begrudgingly waited on a plastic chair in the hallway outside Connor's room. It was almost an hour before Hank was allowed in to see him, the androids leaving the two alone. Hank sat in a chair next to Connor, taking his hand and holding it, careful to be gentle. It would be a while before Connor woke up, but Hank was okay with that. Hank was okay because Connor was okay. God he wanted to drink, to feel numb after that idiot scare, but he stayed strong because he knew Connor would never forgive himself if Connor's injury was what drove the lieutenant to drink. So Hank didn't. Instead, he stayed with his son. He kissed Connor's forehead, smiling softly.

"You'll wake up soon, then we can go home. Just hang on, son."

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys liked this!! This is my first angst and hurt/comfort fanfiction, as well as my first fanfiction for this fandom. I hope I did good! Please don't hesitate to comment and let me know what you think!


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